Clifton High School - Rotunda Yearbook (Clifton, NJ)

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THE REFLECTOR YM IN When they wuz here, both of 'em-Carol an' Barb'ra-wuz both good at learnin'. But in the east, Barb'ra' sociates jest wuzn't the learnin' kind. Durin' the summer when she come home, there wuzn't no peace. Fer weeks ahead, we painted and papered an' fixed everythin' up, and when she come home, there wuz always some o' them city dandies lookin' cockeyed. I r'member one time when they wuz here, some o' our reg'lar boys decided to come around. An' kin ye imagine! They come in overalls an' shirt sleeves, an' them city fellers jest stared. Well, Teddy Brown-his father is Ted Brown, too, and he's our mayor an' a good one at that-well, young Ted had a good idea, so he dragged them city guys to see the cows an' the hogs in that ol' pen, and he left Ba-ba-ra-as them city folks call her-to the mercy o' the rest o' them teasin' rascals. Well, mercy it wuzn't, 'cause they wuz jest bent on teasin' an' mortifyin' Ba-ba-ra to death. Even Barb'ra's eyes an' lipstick an' perm'nent wave didn't do no good. They wuz reg'lar boys! We know how boys is, huh, Luke? Been boys, ourself, once upon a time, huh? Well, anyway, right after Barb'ra finished school-eighteen she wuz -she went to pay a two weeks' visit to her Aunt Lily fthat's Charlie's older sisterj . She didn't use to have nothin' to do with Charlie 'cause he married Mamie 'stead o' some girl she wanted. But when she learned Barb'ra was quite nice lookin' she thought it'd be fun to have her around. That's why she invited Barb'ra to visit her in her big city home. She don't really own it, ye know, there's lots o' mortgages on it. Well, Barb'ra seemed to like it there. Butler, maid, cook an' every- thin'. So, anyways, she stayed an' stayed an' stayed. An' ye know how Ma an' Mamie is. Ma said she'd orta come home right away, an' Mamie wuz worried stiff. An' oney notes came. Well, one day when Mamie wuz near ready to go after her, Barb'ra come breezin' in, hangin' on the arm o' a small, dark dandy. An' right after her come Aunt Lily, smilin', an' introduced him to us as Wilfred Northerton. She said he was a wonde- ful author, oney twenty-six, but I never yet seen any o' his books, an' he looked fishy. Things had sure gone pretty far-Barb'ra wuz engaged. An' her mother not even knowin' she'd met anybody. How she could ever live a lifetime with a guy like that, I couldn't ha' imagined. Well, ye know Barb'ra. It wuzn't long before Mamie got a telegram. It went somethin' like this: 'Mamie, send money immediately. Books rejected. Desperate need. Barbara.' We wuz all excited, an' Ma an' Mamie almost had an endurance worryin' contest. There wuz no answer fer the money order, oney another askin' telegram a few weeks after, until finally that wuz the customary way to hear from her. After a while, Mamie writ her an' told her to come home, if she Wanted. Barb'ra's oney answer wuz that she'd never be able to live in the country again. Of all dead places! So that wuz that. Nineteen

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THE REFLECTOR van ng BARB'RA o' MAMIE Hiram Briggs chuckled softly to himself and slowly turned when she was no longer to be seen But the smile still twitched at the corners of his mouth What a girl she was' Ye know, he said afterwards to his brother Luke-Luke was making the quarterly trip to the town to have his horse shod and do shopping. It wasn't often he drove the twenty-five miles- Ye know, that girl's a wonder, an, allus wuz. I sez that to ma last night, and I sez that I wisht that young un o' Mamie's had been like her. Well, ma- ye know how ma is-well, ma near blew my head off. Cause she used to say that Barb'ra o' Mamie,d be a great piana player, er op'ra singer, er author-authoress, I mean-her with her looks, ye know, an' wavy hair an' sweet smile an' all. She did use to be quite nice, Barb'ra did. But dang it all! I never seen a person change so in all my born days. Charlie made quite a bit o' money at gamblin'. CHe was jest one 0' the few lucky guysj . Well, when Charlie made that money, Mamie made up her mind to take advantage 0, it quick, and send Barb'ra to school out east-Noo York, I b'lieve. So off went Barb'ra. Well, that was the last I seen o' Barb'ra fer nigh two years. An' when she come back fer her vacation, Mamie wanted me to paint up the old buggy-red, ye know, so's everybody could see Barb'ra comin' through town. I did it-ma made me--but course I couldn't help that the paint Weren't dry, an' I couldn't go fer her. I said it was dry, but ma said no, so no it was. Ma said it'd spoil that new suit o' Barb'ra's. What d,ye call 'em? Oh, I ferget. Anyway it wuz one o' them things with that thing slung around their shoulders. Ma sait it wuz very stylish, 'though I couldn,t cell the diff,runce between that an' the black thing my old granny used to wear for Sunday-go-to- meetin'. But I'm a man an' an old one-so Mamie says. I'm not. Old, I mean. I wuz jest seventy-six, two months and five days. I figgered it up that night. Not a day older! An', by jingo, if that tan coat o' Carol's wuzn't twice as nice, I'll eat my hat! But, anyway, as I wuz tellin' ye, that paint weren't dry, so I couldn't go fer her. O' course, ma made me tramp down to the station jest the same, but that wuz fun. Shell I tell Jake to put medium or heavy iron on? Hey, Jake! Jake! CHe don't hear meh. Hey, Ja-a-a-ke! Put medium iron on that black mare. Yeah, medium. Well, as I think I wuz sayin' Barb'ra went to school with Carol, oney they chose diff'runt crowds. Carol knew some o' the ways o' the society world, cause her ma come from Chicago. Carol felt at home. With Barb'ra it wuz diff'runt, I guess. She wuz all alone, an' jest couldn't make friends quick. It wuz oney her looks that got her anywheres. I s'pose it didnit take her long to find that out. An' maybe she leaned on them too much. 1 S ELIT, if it ain,t Carol Bryan an' her little lassie!', Old ' . H . V Eighteen

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THE REFLECTOR IGF! VM An' jest the other day, Mamie got a letter-the first real one in ages. Listen to this part: 'Well, Mamie, not so long ago, --this is what Barb'ra writ-'I heard that Carol Bryan had married Ted Brown around three years ago. The lucky thing! Ted really used to be a terrible pest, but now he is quite famous and all on account of those two remarkable opera- tions, though, of course that was a lucky break, too. It always is. But I wonder how she ever got him! You'd think he'd be smart enough to marry someone richer, wouldn't you? She wasn't even prettyl' Kin ye-Look, Luke! Here she comes-Carol. just say hello-you don't needa say her hair looks lovely or she looks like a spring mornin',- just say hello. An' not bein' deaf, dumb, an' blind perhaps ye kin figger it out fer yerselff' RUTH I-IENGEVELD, june 1935. ON WATCHING A THUNDERSTORM It takes a thunderstorm to bring out timidity in the average person. How many of us sit out on a porch and watch the elements at their best? Most of us will get in out of the rain and sit impatiently during the storm. Let us, instead, watch the approach of a real summer storm. It is a sultry day. The sun is shining brightly. The sky has a blue-gray appear- ance. The air is still and sultry. Then in the distance we see the edge of a cloud faintly visible, its color blending with the color of the sky. A hot breeze springs up, and now clouds appear everywhere. The sun is hidden and faint rumblings of thunder are heard in the distance. By now people are scurrying everywhere, trying to get to their destinations before the storm breaks. Suddenly a wind springs up. Paper, dust, and dirt fly around, getting into our eyes, hair, clothes. People are dashing upstairs, closing windows with bangs, getting things out of the impending rain. The thunder rolls incessantly and an occasional flash of lightning breaks forth. Little drops of rain are starting to spatter the hot earth. A loud crash and the rain pours forth in torrents! Flash after flash of lightning glares brightly, even in daylight. Thunder, like the sound of giant cannon, sets the earth into vibration. Jagged streaks of fire send their hungry fingers towards the earth, trying to destroy objects which seem to displease them. For fifteen full, fearful minutes we can watch an electrical exhibi- tion put on by giants, with giant apparatus, at nature's expense. The storm dies away as it has started. The flashes are fewer and the thunder is not so loud. Before long, the storm center has moved farther on, looking for new worlds to conquer. The rain soon stops, and the sun, more glorious than ever, makes everything sparkle. Activities begin anew, and we, who have watched, have a feeling of awe due to the example that has been shown us of the power of the elements. HERBERT SUEss, June 1934. Twenty